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The Slaughterhouse
Hannah's baby son has been stolen...
Her husband Laurence left her when she became pregnant. Her best friend Sonia, who always claimed to find the idea of children repellent, has disappeared and when in desperation Hannah manages to break into Sonia's now-empty flat, she finds marks left by the feet of a cot on the brand-new carpet. Worse, when Hannah tries to track her firend she discovers that for years Sonia has been spinning her a tissue of lies - she was certainly not what she seemed.
Then another old friend, Jenny Green, informs Hannah she is leaving the area to train as a nurse. And once gone, she doesn't seem too interested in staying in touch. Poor Hannah feels increasingly bereft and isolated.
Hope flares momentarily when the police discover that Laurence is on the high seas, skippering a yacht back from the Azores - and there is a baby on board. On arrival in the UK he is hauled in for questioning, but the police are forced to let him go - whereupon he too promptly vanishes.
Meanwhile, beautiful, secretive Marty is renovating the Devon farm she inherited from her mother - but who is she hoping to entice there? And why does she refer to the adjoining barn as "The Slaughterhouse"? Twists and turns abound in this truly terrifying psychological novel from the author of the successful Rose Trevelyan and DCI Roper series.
Her husband Laurence left her when she became pregnant. Her best friend Sonia, who always claimed to find the idea of children repellent, has disappeared and when in desperation Hannah manages to break into Sonia's now-empty flat, she finds marks left by the feet of a cot on the brand-new carpet. Worse, when Hannah tries to track her firend she discovers that for years Sonia has been spinning her a tissue of lies - she was certainly not what she seemed.
Then another old friend, Jenny Green, informs Hannah she is leaving the area to train as a nurse. And once gone, she doesn't seem too interested in staying in touch. Poor Hannah feels increasingly bereft and isolated.
Hope flares momentarily when the police discover that Laurence is on the high seas, skippering a yacht back from the Azores - and there is a baby on board. On arrival in the UK he is hauled in for questioning, but the police are forced to let him go - whereupon he too promptly vanishes.
Meanwhile, beautiful, secretive Marty is renovating the Devon farm she inherited from her mother - but who is she hoping to entice there? And why does she refer to the adjoining barn as "The Slaughterhouse"? Twists and turns abound in this truly terrifying psychological novel from the author of the successful Rose Trevelyan and DCI Roper series.
220 pages, Hardcover
First published July 25, 2002
About the author
Janie Bolitho
35 books37 followersAka Jodie Sinclair.
Born in Falmouth, Cornwall, Janie Bolitho enjoyed a variety of careers - psychiatric nurse, debt collector, working for a tour operator, a book-maker's clerk - before becoming a full time writer. She died of breast cancer in 2002.
Born in Falmouth, Cornwall, Janie Bolitho enjoyed a variety of careers - psychiatric nurse, debt collector, working for a tour operator, a book-maker's clerk - before becoming a full time writer. She died of breast cancer in 2002.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 21, 2024
A pretty simple, straightforward mystery about a baby being abducted from his back garden. There were a couple of obvious red herrings who the book systematically proved weren't the kidnapper, but they were really only red herrings for the characters as we get to hear from the kidnapper quite a bit and know their name and likely motive way before the characters do. No suspense or twists here.
Displaying 1 of 1 review